Bristol, Newcastle and a trip to Washington DC

Over the last week or so the Academy has been to Bristol, Newcastle and today I am trvelling over to Washington DC (more of which later)

BRISTOL - I went dowen to Bristol on November 28 for a meeting of the TUC South West Region's Organising Forum and to promote the 16-day Academy Course for union oifficers and staff that we are running there (see the Organising Academy website for details). Its always encouraging to see officers and organisers from different unions come together to discuss organising experiences, practices and strategies. Unions represented were: TGWU, Amicus, Usdaw, Unison and Prospect. Particulalrly interesting was a presentation by Nigel Costly our TUC Regional Secreatry in the South West on the issues faced by Migrant Workers coming into the Region and the challenges that union's face in organising them.

NEWCASTLE - We were in Newcastle on November 29 and 30 to deliver the first of this year's courses under our Advanced Organising Programme, Organising Beyond Recognition. The course looks at how unions can build sustainable union structures and develop strategies for memebr involvement in workplaces where recognition has been achieved. Unions represented on the course were PCS, ATL, TGWU, Amicus and the CWU.

WASHINGTON DC - I am travelling over to Washington DC today to attend a conference organised by the AFL-CIUO to look at the different organising strategies being implemented by union centres across the globe and how unions in the US can take maximum advantage of the victory by the Democrats in the recent US mid-term elections. I'll try and post something about the event each day and hopefully also include a few pictures.

Nuff Respect!!!

Never really liked him. But at least he's doing it for a good reason - apparently!!!!

"I want to attempt to connect with the politically untouched, the millions of people – most of them young people – who are completely turned-off by conventional approaches. It’s the Generation X-Factor. One of the crucial elements in the equation, the success of which will be the removal of this corrupt and discredited government and the replacement with a genuinely socially democratic one. We need to use new and innovative methods to put across our arguments. I’m determined that there are no no-go areas for us and I believe Celebrity Big Brother will be hugely successful for our ideals."

Bit of a rant

Read excellent article in the paper today about the disproportionate exposure given by the media to various lobby groups etc.

For example, MigrationWatch UK an organisation concerned with the apparent scale of migration into the UK has NO formal membership yet its representatives have been interviewed by TV and radio 400 times since 2002. Media Watch UK has just 5000 members yet has been featured in broadcast interviews over 1000 times since 1994.

Another "over exposure" issue that causes me to tear my hair out is the increasing trend of TV and radio stations to run text polls and to read out comments on news stories submitted by viewers/listeners via email and text.

A particularly awful example of this was in the aftermath of the shhoting by the Met Police of Charles de Menuez an innocent commuter- whom the police believed to be a suicide bomber.

On the day after the shooting BBC Radio 5 Live ran a text poll on the police having a shoot to kill policy. After a while, the station was including the results of the poll in its news headlines - 95% thought a shoot to kill policy was right. This figure was presented as though it was the result of a properly constituted poll and not of something that was really no more than an ad hoc vox pop.

F U M E!!!

Darling, you were wonderful

Went a bit North London last night and went to the theatre to see an amateur production of the "Ragged Trousered Philanthropists".

Despite the accents of some of the cast causing some difficulty in identifying which country the fictional town of Mugsborough was in for the purposes of the play (was it the North of England, New Zealand or South Africa) it was an enjoyable night and an interesting take on an absolutely fabulous book (sorry - turned into a bit of a luvvie there).

Favourite Places (part 1)

In Liverpool again today ahead of a week that will take me to Manchester, Warrington, Newcastle and London. A busy week ahead but spent yesterday in one of my favourite places - Goodison Park the home of Everton FC. Result by the way, a hard earned 1-0 victory for the Blues - deep joy!!

I'm reliably informed by my Dad that hes been taking me to the match since I was 4 years of age, although my earliest memory is of an FA Cup Quarter Final in 1975 - result Everton 0 Fulham (then of the old Second Division, what is this season called The Championship I think) 1. That was a shock result (honest) and Fulham went on to reach the 1975 FA Cup Final where they were beaten 2-0 by West Ham.

Since then - my career as an Evertonian has had lots more downs than ups but its never diluted the pleasure of being at the match. Ive attached a picture of the view from my seat - Gwladys Street Lower, Rox W, Seat 175. Forever Everton!!!

Back to base

After almost two weeks out of the office, I'm in Liverpool today working at the North West TUC Office in Liverpool. Whilst the most enjoyable part of my job is getting out and about meeting and working with unions and organisers - not to mention running Organising Academy training programmes, its always good to have a day in the office to catch up with numerous things that are always on my "To Do" list.

Ive included a picture of the office in Liverpool that I share with Paul Nowak (or he shares with me) the TUC's National Organiser. As you can see, we dont do palatial offices at the TUC.

Year 8 Underway

Im in Newcastle all this week with the Year 8 intake into the TUC Organising Academy for the first week of the 20-day Training Programme that accompanies the Trainee Organisers' year long placement with their sponsoring unions.

On this years Organising Academy Trainee Organiser programme are:

Jude Ritchie (sponsored by Community), Mary Hanson (Community), John Sweeney (CWU), Steve Eldridge (CWU), Israr Mohammed (CATU), April Molloy-Barker (CATU), Jacqueline Taylor (Society of Radiographers), Jennifer Mitchell (Unison), Duncan Woodhead (ATL), Jon Pritchard (ATL), Andy Hearn (USDAW), Simon Brown (Connect), Pamela Morton (NUJ).

This years Academy Organisers are pictured at the Newcastle College Trade Union Learning Centre.